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Update from the Times website - things moving fast now.
Theresa May has summoned leading Brexiteers to a meeting in Chequers as she fights off attempts to force her to stand down. The prime minister is under intense pressure to name her departure date ahead of one final effort to win the Commons backing for her deal. However, efforts to force her to stand aside immediately had lost momentum this morning, as senior Tories from both sides of the Brexit divide condemned the plotters. Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan Smith, Dominic Raab and Jacob Rees-Mogg are among those invited to speak with Mrs May at her country retreat later today. It is not yet clear whether the meeting will be in person or on a telephone conference call.
Mr Duncan Smith angrily condemned a “cabal” of cabinet ministers he accused of seeking to organise a coup to install David Lidington as a caretaker prime minister. The former Tory leader said Brexiteers should “keep their options open” on whether to drop their opposition to Mrs May’s deal.
Philip Hammond made clear he would oppose any attempt to remove Mrs May from Downing Street, saying it was “self-indulgent” to put the leadership of the country in question at a time of crisis. The chancellor also opened the door to a second referendum, saying it was a “coherent proposition” that deserved to be on a list of options expected to be debated by MPs next week. MPs holding out for a no-deal Brexit or a harder form than that offered by Mrs May face a rapidly diminishing set of options. Bids by a cross-party group of MPs to take control of the legislative timetable from the government are likely to pass tomorrow.
That will enable so-called indicative votes, which could allow parliament to arrive at a consensus on the best way forward. Most observers believe amending Mrs May’s deal to place the UK in a customs union is the most likely alternative to emerge. However, the Brexit secretary warned that such a move could force the government to call an election. Stephen Barclay told The Andrew Marr show: “If an amendment goes through where parliament takes control of the order paper then that leaves open the door to parliament then legislating to take no-deal off the table. “And that is something that Brexiteers like me would see as a massive risk to Brexit because if Brexiteers and parliament votes against the deal and also votes to take no-deal off the table then the only option is to then have European parliamentary elections.”
Mr Barclay said that if the Commons takes control of the order paper and votes for a different outcome, it would “potentially collide with fundamental commitments the government has given in their manifesto”, though he said the vote itself would not be binding. He added: “What parliament has done is vote for a number of contradictory things so we would need to untangle that but ultimately, at its logical conclusion, the risk of a general election increases because you potentially have a situation where parliament is instructing the executive to do something that is counter to what it was elected to do.”
